National Camping Award

The National Camping Award is both an annual and a cumulative award for units which receive a ribbon for the troop flag. Individuals, scouts, and scouters can also qualify for a cumulative patch by participating in campouts with their families, or patrols as well as unit campouts. Any combination of unit and individual campouts can be used to qualify for the individual cumulative award. Use the National Camping Award Form to record its campouts and apply for awards. An individual can use the National Camping Individual Award Form to record his campouts and apply for awards.

The patch is an individual award for which all members of a unit may not qualify. Only those members who have met the cumulative camp out levels may qualify for one of the four awards. Each individual member needs to keep track of his personal campouts and have them approved by the scoutmaster. The patch can be placed on a backpack or worn as a temporary badge on the uniform.

To earn the annual National Camping Award, a unit must have reached one of these levels of camping achievement:

10 days and nights of camping - Unit Award Number 17831

20 days and nights of camping - Unit Award Number 17832

30 days and nights of camping - Unit Award Number 17833

50 days and nights of camping - Unit Award Number 17834

To earn the cumulative National Camping Award, a unit must fulfill one of the following levels of camping during the entire history of the unit:

100 days and night of camping - Unit award Number 17827

250 days and night of camping - Unit award Number 17828

500 days and night of camping - Unit award Number 17829

1000 days and night of camping - Unit award Number 17830

The ribbon can also be displayed with the troop flag.

Individual scouts and scouters can also qualify for a National Camping Award patch provided that the required cumulative number of days and nights of camping has been met. This total can include any combination of camping with the scouts family, patrol or unit.

100 days and nights of camping - Patch Number 00296

250 days and nights of camping - Patch Number 00297

500 days and nights of camping - Patch Number 00298

1000 days and nights of camping - Patch Number 00299

Both the unit and individual cumulative awards are retroactive to January 1, 1991.

Mary - There isn't a patch for 75 nights. But, you can purchase the other Natl Camping patches at ScoutStuff.org

Apr 22, 2013 - Yukon Jack

All, be aware, this award is being discontinued and replaced with the new National Outdoor Achievement award patches and medal (pentagon shaped patch with 5 segments). This award will be supported by the BSA as long as insignia is available and a scout/scouter keeps a log of days and nights. This is from the national scout store in my council's jurisdiction.
My interpretation of what they said is that once you've started working on it (i.e. begun the camping log linked above) you can continue to work towards it as long as insignia can be found. By this rule, the award could theoretically still be earned years from now.

Aug 21, 2014 - Diane Plaster

My son recently completed 6 weeks as scout camp counselor. They put him in a tent for 5 of those weeks, the final week in a cabin. Is it true that because he got paid to work camp, his camping in a tent for those 5 weeks do not count toward the 100 days, etc award? I figured "camping" was "camping" as long as it was in a tent... and this was a BSA campground.

Aug 21, 2014 - Scouter Paul

@Diane - This award is discontinued, so your question doesn't seem pertinent but maybe the award is still being used in your area. It sounds like someone told you that your son could not count those nights on camp staff because he got paid.
I'd recommend that your son review the award application form to ensure that his camping nights fall within the "What Counts As Camping" defined there, rather than what someone thinks should count.